Figure 3
From: Probing the luminal microenvironment of reconstituted epithelial microtissues
Microparticle physicochemical properties affect tissue polarity.
(a) Schematic illustration (left) and 40X phase contrast image (right) showing polystyrene (PS) microspheres incorporated into the core of Caco-2 microtissues lacking lumen after one week in 3D Matrigel culture. (b) 40X confocal slices through a PS microsphere embedded within a Caco-2 cell aggregate and cultured in Matrigel for one week. Caco-2 cells form a coherent microtissue around the microsphere, but the tissue exhibits inverted polarity with actin (green) preferentially oriented towards the surrounding ECM (i.e. Matrigel) and with β4 integrin (red) localized at the interface between the tissue and the PS-microsphere. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). (c) Schematic illustration (top) and 20X phase contrast image (bottom) of a quantum-dot-loaded maltodextrin (QD-MD) microsphere incorporated into the luminal compartment of Caco-2 cysts after one week in culture. (d) 40X confocal slices (left) and 20X confocal orthogonal views (right) of a Caco-2 cyst with a QD-MD microsphere within its luminal compartment. (e) High magnification 63X confocal slice showing quantum dots trapped within the lumen of the cyst (white arrow).
